CANTON — In a county stocked with wrestling talent, no one stood out more than Creekview’s Joseph Sorrentino.

Wrestling at 182 pounds, the junior finished second at the Class AAAAA state meet and won three tournament championships. Sorrentino helped his team to a top-six finish at the Class AAAAA state duals as well.

His top finishes of the year came at the Creekview Invitational, the Hardaway Classic and the Whitewater Invitational. He was also the Region 7AAAAA runner-up and the sectional runner-up on his way to his second-place state performance.

For his success this season, with an overall record of 46-7, Sorrentino is the 2012-13 Cherokee Tribune Wrestler of the Year.

Sorrentino said he never imagined winning the award, but was honored by the selection.

“It’s great to be from such a great wrestling county,” he said. “Cherokee County takes its wrestling very seriously. Pretty much anywhere we go in Cherokee County, there is someone good to wrestle. I was shocked to be chosen, but greatly honored and blessed.”

Sorrentino credited his coaches and practice partners for the success.

“They help me out,” he said. “They made me better than I was last year.”

Sorrentino said part of the challenge of wrestling is facing the same opponent multiple times. Regardless of the outcome of any prior meeting, the rematches posed unique challenges. On some occasions over the course of the season, he faced the same wrestler as many as three times.

“It’s hard because, even if you beat him the first time, he is definitely going to work to get better and is going to come at you with a new game plan,” Sorrentino said. “Then there are those guys that you don’t beat and you have to wrestle over and over and over again. I had the wrestle the same guy (Pope’s Brooks Climmons) for region, sectional and state. You just try to get better each time.”

While Sorrentino never was able to get the better of Climmons, the eventual Class AAAAA state champion, he is proud to say that, with each meeting, he improved. Climmons, a senior ranked first in the nation at his weight class, gradates this spring, so Sorrentino knows he won’t get another chance.

But that doesn’t mean that next season won’t bring someone equally as challenging.

“I feel like I can go all the way and win state next year, but you never know who is going to be there,” Sorrentino said. “You have to work hard and take everyone seriously.”

Sorrentino, who plays football when he isn’t on the wrestling mat, focuses on always being in the best physical shape he can be in. He said the most difficult aspect of wrestling is staying mentally focused.

“I try to stay at my body’s peak and stay ready for the next season,” said Sorrentino, who thinks wrestling is more challenging than football. “You have to stay mentally conditioned. There are so many times it would be easy to give up, but you just have to keep on fighting.”

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